The following relates generally to wireless communication and more specifically to random access techniques for narrowband wireless communications.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Some types of wireless devices may provide for automated communication. Automated wireless devices may include those implementing M2M communication (of which Machine Type Communication (MTC) will be considered a part for purposes of this disclosure). M2M communication may refer to communications that allow wireless devices to communicate with one another or a base station without human intervention. For example, M2M communication may refer to communications from devices that integrate sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay the information to a central server or application program that can make use of the information (or present the information to humans interacting with the application program). Examples of applications for M2M wireless devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, wearable devices, and transaction-based business charging.